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The Beaver was an incredibly reliable aircraft with many redundant systems built into its design. It seemed incongruous to her that her plane was in trouble and that her systems were failing. She prayed she could just keep the Beaver in flight long enough and without losing too much altitude. She reminded herself ‘pitch up for best glide speed.’ Her best and safest spot to land was the lake; landing anywhere else didn’t look promising, and she doubted she’d walk away. Even the water landing wasn’t guaranteed, but it was better than rock, trees and hard, frozen ground.
Okay, Amelia. You can do this.Thoughts battered her brain like heartbeats.
Stabilize the plane
Keep flying, pitch for glide
Focus on your landing zone
Analyze the situation
Look for anything in the water that will foul the floats
React appropriately
Smoke and oil continued to trail out of the engine, making it harder to see, forcing her to use the side windows to see. That was worrisome and not just from an if the engine seizes and the plane ceases to perform kind of way. The image of a saying on the brick in her former flight instructor’s office came to mind: ‘throw me and you’ll know where to land,’ which wasn’t at all that helpful. Because she’d just had the plane inspected and serviced, she was pissed.
The coughing and spitting from the engine was getting worse. She glanced down to see if there was any other viable landing spot. Even if she reached the lake, her glide path would be too steep and she didn’t know if she’d be able to keep the plane from flipping, cartwheeling or ending upside down in the icy water.
The map on the navigation unit was accurate. Her only chance at survival, and that was slim to none, was to make the lake and pray she could get to the floating sled and get away from the plane before it sank. If the floats broke or the plane became inverted, she had to stay out of the water. Failing to do so would cause her to die of hypothermia.
The black water was approaching fast—too fast and at too steep an angle. She braced for impact as she glanced out the side window and saw it—every pilot’s worst nightmare when landing on water. A partially submerged log. She jerked the yoke to the right, making one of the floats hit the water and careening it around. Amelia managed to avoid crashing into the log, but it caught the back part of the other float, causing the plane to upend and driving the nose and the propeller under the water.
Even though she was belted in tightly, her body slammed forward into the yoke as the plane shuddered to a stop and she seemed to dangle above the freezing water that was slowly seeping in. Hope that she might survive flickered until she realized she was belted in and losing consciousness. As darkness descended, Amelia’s last thought was that she wouldn’t be aware of the end of her own existence.
CHAPTER5
CARSON
Making his way to Otter Cove gave Carson some time to think. At one point he’d believed he might pass himself off as Mason. There were two problems with that: the first was shifters tended to be more perceptive than humans, and Carson wasn’t sure he could fool them; second, Mason might well be in Otter Cove or someone there might know where he was. All in all, it seemed safer just to go as Mason’s brother, tell them he’d had a chance to make a surprise visit, and see what he could learn.
Carson had worked with Deke Campbell before, helping him find a missing girl. Unfortunately, she had been found dead. Carson hadn’t asked Deke if the two men who’d been responsible had managed to survive their escape attempt. The local police had said they vanished into the Icelandic wilderness. He didn’t believe that. Carson’s guess was that at some point their bodies would be found buried deep in the frozen land or chained to some kind of weight in the icy waters that surrounded the country. Shifters didn’t tend to trust human justice where the murder of one of their own was concerned.
Stopping just outside Otter Cove, Carson stopped and dialed The Finder’s personal cell. Carson had no idea whether Deke would pick up or not, as this was not the mobile number Carson had used before.
“You have reached The Finder’s phone. He’s busy right now finding various ways to drive me crazy and make me…”
What sounded like a growl before the smack of a female ass by a male hand came across the phone. Carson grinned. He’d heard a rumor that the surly cave lion had taken a mate.
“Damn it, Annie. Campbell. Who the hell is this, and it better be important,” growled Deke.
“Deke, it’s Carson Payne. We met a couple of years ago in Reykjavik…”
“I remember. What do you need?”
“It’s important, but I hate to interrupt…”
“It’ll do my mate some good to cool her jets while you and I chat. How can I help, Carson?”
“My brother…”
“Mason? Lives up in the mountains? May be the only guy I know more hermit-like than I was before I took a mate?”
Carson grinned. He liked Deke. The guy was spooky and intimidating as hell, but there was a nobility and honor to him that appealed. “Yeah. I wanted to surprise him, but he wasn’t there. Hasn’t been there for at least three days.”
“Was he really surprised?” Carson could hear Deke’s mate moaning in the background.
There weren’t many people Carson thought he could trust, but Deke was one of them. “I’m in trouble. I left him a cryptic message that he would understand. His not being at his cabin is unsettling.”
